Third emergency shutdown in seven months at Plymouth nuke plant

Wednesday

A new day brought a new problem at the Pilgrim nuclear power station in Plymouth as operators shut down the plant Tuesday because of a reported mechanical problem.

A new day brought a new problem at the Pilgrim nuclear power station as operators shut down the plant Tuesday because of a reported mechanical problem.

It marked the plant’s third emergency shutdown in the past seven months, and it came after a week marked by protester arrests and union picketing.

The plant was manually shut down shortly after 1 p.m. when workers detected reduced air pressure in the facility’s condenser, according to spokesmen for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy, the plant’s owner. Before going offline, Pilgrim was running at 30 percent of its full power capacity as workers performed routine cleaning of the plant’s cooling water.

“The shutdown went smoothly,” Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said. “They (the plant’s operators) have to troubleshoot the problem with the condenser and make any repairs necessary. Presuming they can do that and make the fixes, they can go back online.”

Sheehan and Rob Williams, Entergy’s spokesman, said they didn’t know when Pilgrim would be powered back up.

“The plant remains shut down while technicians investigate the cause of the shutdown,” Williams said. “I don’t have a timetable at this point.”

In December, the plant was shut down for several days after a valve started leaking. A month before, the plant went offline because of another leak.

The latest shutdown at the plant gave extra ammunition to the groups currently at odds with Entergy, including the workers union fighting for a new labor contract. Last week, Entergy sent home more than 100 plant workers who they deemed non-essential after the union – the Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 – rejected the company’s latest contract offer.

After 100 union members picketed outside the plant last Wednesday, employees returned to work late last week when the union and Entergy agreed to extend their negotiations until Friday. The union’s previous contract expired May 15.

“We’ve made a little bit of movement. These things take time,” said Dan Hurley, the union president.

Although Hurley wouldn’t say if workers would strike if a new deal isn’t reached, he said Tuesday’s shutdown proved the importance of the workers’ jobs at the plant.

“Those so-called ‘non-essential’ employees are magically essential today,” Hurley said, adding that plant workers are staffed around the clock in response to an emergency shutdown.

In an unrelated event Sunday, 14 members of a Cape Cod anti-nuclear group were arrested and charged with trespassing at the plant. The organization, called Cape Downwinders, said they were trying to deliver a letter urging Entergy to shut down the plant until it makes safety upgrades.

Cape Downwinders are among several citizen groups asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny relicensing of the plant unless it adheres to federal safety regulations recommended following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant disaster last year.

Town meetings in nine South Shore and Cape Cod towns have passed non-binding resolutions opposing the 20-year extension of Pilgrim’s 40-year operating license, which expires June 8.

Patrick Ronan may be reached at pronan@ledger.com.

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